Desperate Times
by roothlace
Summary: Upon her return from Rosings to visit the Collinses, Elizabeth shares the news that Mr. Darcy proposed to her. Unknown to the Jane and Elizabeth, Mrs. Bennet somehow finds out that Elizabeth has turned down another offer of marriage
1. Chapter 1

_Pride and Prejudice_ doesn't belong to me.

**Desperate Times**

Elizabeth climbed up the stairs to her room and as she went by her mother's room, Mrs. Bennet called to her. "Elizabeth, come in for a moment, there's something I would talk to you about."

Elizabeth entered the room wondering what her mother wanted to speak to her about. "Shut the door behind you," Mrs. Bennet said.

"What is this I hear about you turning down another offer of marriage?" Mrs. Bennet got straight to the point.

"What are you talking about?" Elizabeth didn't have to feign her puzzlement. There was no way her mother had heard about Darcy's proposal. No way at all.

"I don't know what is wrong with you child," Mrs. Bennet complained. "First Mr. Collins and now Mr. Darcy, one would think you wanted to die an old maid."

"Mr. Darcy?" Elizabeth exclaimed, in surprise. "Who told you that he proposed?"

"What does it matter how I know?" her mother asked. "Did you really refuse his proposal?"

"What if I did?" Elizabeth asked. "I thought you said he was the most disagreeable man in the world."

"Who cares what I said?" Mrs. Bennet asked. "Why did you refuse him?" Before Elizabeth could respond her mother continued. "I mean he's quite disagreeable to be sure, all that standing and looking out of windows and never saying more than a few words at a time and he thinks he's better than all of us but he's handsome and rich."

"Surely, madam…" Elizabeth interrupted only to be quietened by her mother's look.

"Listen to me Elizabeth," that lady said. "I was very angry with you when you refused Mr. Collins. You were thoughtless and inconsiderate, you know that our very home is entailed to him and when you father dies he may throw us out without a second thought." Mrs. Bennet paused and added, "And you let Charlotte Lucas get him, and I had to bear the shame of watching Lady Lucas have a daughter married before me. Moreover, Charlotte of all people."

"I hardly see what how matters anymore," Elizabeth said.

"My point exactly," Mrs. Bennet agreed. "The issue now is Mr. Darcy; you have to tell him you changed your mind. That you will marry him."

"Mother!"

"He'll think nothing of it," Mrs. Bennet said, dismissively. "Girls are forever changing their minds about everything."

"I will do nothing of the sort," Elizabeth replied.

Mrs. Bennet wasn't listening. "So he insulted you the first time you met, you got over that already. Just think Elizabeth, all the fine houses, and carriages. The man has over ten thousand a year." She laughed lightly; she could imagine how it would be.

"I think I will leave you now," Elizabeth said, heading for the door. She couldn't bear to listen to her mother anymore.

After Elizabeth left the room, Mrs. Bennet sat on her bed wondering how to resolve the situation. She didn't care much for Mr. Darcy but if two of her daughters married wealthy men then all her children would be set for life.

Mr. Bennet didn't understand, but then why would he? He'd be dead and buried when Mr. Collins came to throw her out of her home. Her daughters didn't understand either, why would they? They could feel the pressure she was under.

Having five unmarried girls with no wealth to their name was enough to drive a woman to do desperate things.

As she fell asleep that night, Mrs. Bennet was determined. She would see her daughters married well, she just had to come up with some sort of plan.

000

I know its way out of character but what do you think


	2. Chapter 2

"It's from Aunt Gardiner," Elizabeth said when Mrs. Bennet came to see the letter that Elizabeth was reading.

"Oh," Mrs. Bennet replied. She had hoped it would be from someone more interesting. Someone with news.

"She writes to tell me that we'll not be going to the Lakes as originally planned," Elizabeth continued, knowing her mother would be very interested in what the letter contained. "We'll be going to Derbyshire instead. And for three weeks instead of four."

"Oh," Mrs. Bennet said again. Elizabeth was forever thinking of leaving home to go someplace or other. 'Derbyshire… Derbyshire. Why did that place seem so familiar?' she asked herself. Then it came to Mrs. Bennet. Of course, Derbyshire – that was where Mr. Darcy lived. Elizabeth was going to Derbyshire and there she would be sure to meet Mr. Darcy and who knew maybe he would propose again.

Mrs. Bennet pondered that information as she walked back to her room. How could she ensure that Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth crossed paths again and more importantly that he would propose again?

000

Mrs. Gardiner was surprised when her sister-in-law insisted on taking a walk with her in the garden. Mrs. Gardiner and Mrs. Bennet tolerated each other, they both knew that they could never be friends; they were too different for that. Mrs. Bennet was more interested in gossip and Mrs. Gardiner never had any that interested Mrs. Bennet.

"I hear you'll be touring Devonshire instead of the Lakes," Mrs. Bennet began, when she was sure that they couldn't be overheard.

"Yes," Mrs. Gardiner replied, "I know Lizzy must be disappointed but Derbyshire is very beautiful too."

"So you have said a number of times," Mrs. Bennet said.

They walked on in silence; Mrs. Gardiner was waiting for Mrs. Bennet to disclose the real reason for their walk.

"Sometimes I wonder if Elizabeth just likes vexing me," Mrs. Bennet said causing Mrs. Gardiner to look at her in surprise.

"Elizabeth?" Mrs. Gardiner asked. "Surely you cannot still be angry with her over Mr. Collins?"

"Well," Mrs. Bennet began, "she could have worked harder to get him and not thrown him to Charlotte Lucas." She took a deep breath and added. "But I fear she now done worse."

"What has she done?" Mrs. Gardiner and Elizabeth were good friends and they talked about everything. In fact Mrs. Gardiner had just warned Elizabeth about falling with love with Mr. Wickham less than an hour ago.

"She's refused Mr. Darcy," Mrs. Bennet said. "And knowing Elizabeth she probably did it to spite me."

Mrs. Gardiner couldn't help laughing. Her sister-in-law was so self-centered and silly some times. "Are you sure he proposed?" she asked.

"I heard it from Elizabeth herself," Mrs. Bennet whispered. At Mrs. Gardiner's look she added. "It wasn't my intention to overhear but Elizabeth and Jane were walking to their room when Elizabeth said, 'please don't tell Mama about it,' then I just had to know what it was that she didn't want me to know. So I followed them and listened at the door and I heard the whole story. Mr. Darcy proposed to her and she turned him down."

Mrs. Gardiner didn't bother to tell Mrs. Bennet how wrong it was to listen at other people's doors. She knew that it must have taken a lot for Mrs. Bennet to confide in her in this way.

"So she refused a proposal of marriage," she said instead. "I think that puts an end to that whole business."

"Puts an end…?" Mrs. Bennet repeated. "What utter nonsense. She _has _to accept him."

"I have talked to Elizabeth, indeed to all of you," Mrs. Gardiner said. "It seems the consensus is that Mr. Darcy is a very disagreeable and rude young man who treated Mr. Wickham very unfairly. Why would she want to marry someone like him?"

"Elizabeth is too young to know her own mind," Mrs. Bennet replied. "He may have treated Mr. Wickham very unfairly but a woman can stand a little…discomfort to live comfortably."

"Are you saying that she should be made to marry him because he's rich?"

"I'm saying that she should be made to marry him because he wanted to marry her." Mrs. Bennet replied.

"But obviously doesn't want to marry him," Mrs. Gardiner pointed out. "Otherwise she wouldn't have refused him."

"Elizabeth is too clever for her own good," Mrs. Bennet said. "But she can change her mind, she is human after all."

"So you propose that I make her change her mind?" Mrs. Gardiner asked. She didn't like where the conversation was headed.

"No, nothing of the sort," Mrs. Bennet said. "I suggest that you visit Pemberley, let her… see what she would be missing if she doesn't marry him."

"And you believe such a scheme would work?" Mrs. Gardiner asked in wonder. She had always thought her sister-in-law ridiculous but this just took the cake.

"Like I told you," Mrs. Bennet said. "Elizabeth is a clever girl, clever enough to know that even clever people need money to survive."

"I cannot agree to such a scheme," Mrs. Gardiner said.

"You're only saying that because your children are still too young to get married," Mrs. Bennet said. "And because you have sons to inherit."

Mrs. Gardiner had no reply to that. The two ladies turned and headed back to the house.

"Just visit Pemberley," Mrs. Bennet said, when they got to the door of the house, "that's all. Who knows, it may be just the push they need."

000

Mrs. Gardiner watched Mr. Darcy talk with her niece, it was clear that that gentleman obviously cared for Elizabeth. Mr. Darcy, Miss Darcy and Mr. Bingley had called on the Gardiners and Elizabeth at the inn. That in itself was a testament to how much the young man cared for Elizabeth – he had brought his sister to visit as soon as Georgiana had arrived.

Mrs. Gardiner couldn't be sure of Elizabeth's feelings but she could tell that her niece wasn't indifferent to the man.

Maybe Mrs. Bennet had been right, maybe Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy just needed a little push.

But only time would tell.

000

Thanks for reading and reviewing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for reading, reviewing, adding to favourites and alerts. Thanks for pointing out the Devonshire mistake, sorry about that.**

Mrs. Bennet was frustrated. Even the weeks that she and her youngest daughters had spent at the seaside hadn't managed to ease her frustration. What was wrong with the young men these days? First Mr. Bingley had left without proposing to Jane or even giving any sign of wishing too. And it now seemed as though he wasn't ever coming back to Netherfield Park.

On top of that, although Elizabeth had seen Mr. Darcy and even met his sister, there had been no mention of a second proposal. Mrs. Bennet had asked both Elizabeth and Mrs. Gardiner about this and she hadn't received any positive news on that regard.

What was wrong with young men these days?

000

Mrs. Bennet had a dilemma on her hands. She couldn't very well invite herself and her daughters to Pemberley, so the solution was to get Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley to return to Netherfield Park.

000

Mr. Darcy stood in the library at Pemberley and looked out the window. He couldn't believe how empty the house seemed without Elizabeth and her aunt and uncle in it. For the past two weeks, they had seemed to spend their every waking moment together, fishing and having picnics. Much to Carol's dismay, Darcy and Bingley had had a small farewell party for the Gardiners and Elizabeth on the eve of their departure.

The friendship between Elizabeth and Georgiana was all that Darcy had hoped and more and he had been glad to see them getting on so well together. They had spent a lot of time walking and talking together.

Once or twice during their stay, Darcy had thought of proposing to Elizabeth again but somehow or other he hadn't found the right moment. At first it had been because he wasn't sure about her feelings for him – what if she still disliked him – and at the end when he thought that she would be responsive, he reasoned that he had left it too late and he hadn't wanted it to feel rushed.

000

Mrs. Bennet told herself that she had no choice, and she really didn't she reasoned, which mother of five unmarried daughters with no fortune to their name had a choice. Getting ones children married was a serious business especially since their father couldn't be bothered.

She needed Mr. Bingley back at Netherfield and she now had a plan. She only hoped Mr. Darcy would return with his friend.

**000**

"Is it really in your best interest to have the house empty for so long?" Mrs. Bennet asked Mr. Longfellow, the agent in charge of letting out the properties in the area.

"Of course we want the houses to have people living in them," Mr. Longfellow replied, wondering at Mrs. Bennet interest in the house.

"Netherfield Park hasn't had a tenant living in it for almost a year now," Mrs. Bennet pointed out.

"But he has paid for it," Mr. Longfellow said. "Surely he may do with it as he wishes."

"My point exactly," Mrs. Bennet replied, "he paid but the house is empty. What if another person wanted to leave there?"

"There are any number of empty suitable properties in the area," Mr. Longfellow said. "And as I recall your daughters are all still unmarried." He left the 'so I don't see what this has to do with you' unsaid.

"That doesn't mean that we shouldn't start the house hunt early enough."

Mr. Longfellow's wife came into the room then and Mrs. Bennet left, she felt sure that she had sown enough seeds of doubt into Mr. Longfellow's mind about having the house vacant. She was pretty confident that he would write to Mr. Bingley.

"I don't know Mrs. Bennet would be interested in Netherfield Park," Mrs. Longfellow observed to her husband, "but she's right."

"Mr. Bingley paid for the house," Mr. Longfellow pointed out, "if he wishes to pay for a house that he doesn't stay in then it is his affair."

"It is his house," Mrs. Longfellow said, "no one's refuting that but for the sake of the neighbourhood can you not ask if he intends to ever come back here?"

"My dear woman," her husband began, but she interrupted him. "Young Miss Setton and Mr. Richards just got engaged the other day and she's always wanted to live at Netherfield Park and the Richards can more than afford it."

"She'll have to settle for someplace else," Mr. Longfellow replied, "Netherfield Park is taken."

Mrs. Longfellow smiled and left her husband alone, she knew he didn't like it when she got into his business but she also knew would do something about Netherfield Park.

000

'I will write to Mr. Bingley,' Mr. Longfellow decided after his wife left the room, 'just to find out if he ever means to return.'

000

Jane and Elizabeth were in the sitting room reading when Lydia and Kitty burst into the room. "You'll never believe our news," Lydia said. And without waiting for her sisters to try and guess she added, "Mr. Bingley is coming back to Netherfield Park."

Mrs. Bennet who was on her way to the kitchen overheard her daughter and smiled to herself she had also just received the news from the sister Philips whose housekeeper knew the housekeeper at Netherfield Park. Things were definitely looking up.

000

**I have taken a lot of liberties with so many things and if there are any mistakes please point them and I will do my best to rectify them.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for reading, reviewing, adding to favourites and alerts. **

000

Mrs. Bennet was anxious.

Ever since she had heard the news that Mr. Bingley was returning to Netherfield she had hardly spent and now finally the butcher had reported that his housekeeper had ordered some beef and fish. He was going to be at Netherfield for dinner.

000

"You have to go and visit him as soon as he is settled," Mrs. Bennet told her husband.

"I'm not going on a fool's errand again," Mr. Bennet replied. "You told me he would marry one of my daughters if I visited him last year and it all came to nothing."

"But…"

"The man knows where we live," Mr. Bennet pointed out; "if he wants to see us he can visit us." Mr. Bennet left the room and went to the study.

000

"And has he called on any of the families in the neighbourhood?" Mrs. Bennet asked her sister Philips, who always had such information.

"No," Mrs. Philips replied, "but then it's only been a day. I'm sure he'll call on you soon enough."

"Did he return with the same party as before?" Mrs. Bennet asked.

"No," Mrs. Philips replied, "he came only with Mr. Darcy; his sisters opted to stay in town."

Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy were back; maybe she could kill two birds with one stone.

000

"Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy, ma'am," Hill announced showing them into the sitting room.

Mrs. Bennet watched the two young men and her daughters. Mr. Bingley was clearly in love with Jane and he would need only a little encouragement. Jane was not talking much as for Mr. Darcy he hadn't said much at all but Mrs. Bennet was encouraged by Elizabeth's attempts to draw him into conversation.

Mrs. Bennet decided to take charge of the conversation telling them about how the officers had left the area, Charlotte Lucas' wedding and their visit to Brighton.

"Mr. Bennet was gracious enough to take me, Mary, Kitty and Lydia to Brighton," Mrs. Bennet said, "and taking in the sea water has done much for our health."

Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley nodded in agreement; Mr. Bingley told them that he had indeed heard of the healing powers of sea water.

"But it was such a rush, some may people," Mrs. Bennet complained, "one can't really enjoy it and of course, one misses one's home. I must say we were glad to be back home."

Lydia mumbled that she would have liked to stay longer in Brighton and attend a few more balls with the Officers but she was shushed by her mother.

"Of course one does miss one's home," Mrs. Bennet continued, "so I guess that's why you're back home."

Mr. Bingley agreed.

"We had began to worry that you would never return," Mrs. Bingley said, "and now we realize that it was all for nothing."

Mr. Bingley couldn't take it anymore; he really wanted to talk to Jane or at least hear her talk but Mrs. Bennet was firmly in charge of the conversation. "We must take our leave," he said, standing up. "We have a lot of calls to make."

"The last time you were here," Mrs. Bennet interjected, "you promised to dine with us."

"Yes, we did." Bingley replied.

"Good," Mrs. Bennet agreed, "we must do it soon. How does Tuesday suit?" she would have preferred that they dine at Longbourn that evening but she needed time to prepare a meal that even Mr. Darcy would not find fault with. Tuesday was two days away; it would give her enough time.

That evening as Mrs. Bennet replayed the events of the day she agreed that she should have let Jane and Elizabeth speak to the young men and not hijacked the conversation. Bingley, she was reasonably sure would have said something to Jane, he had spent most of the time staring at her and Elizabeth had talked to Darcy and he had looked at her.

In fact, she was going to suggest that they take a walk through the gardens when Mr. Bingley had stood up and said that they had to leave. But at least they were going to dine at Longbourn; here she would make sure that they spent some time together to talk. The dinner would have to be carefully conducted.

000


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